(Unilad) - A number of Wall Street influencers are said to be taking in half a million dollars a year, earning more than the bankers themselves.
Reaching younger and new clients has always been a hurdle for finance firms, but with the new introduction to Wall Street influencers, this is no longer a problem.
The recent financial phenomenon has completely revolutionised the way the industry now works. With some TikTok influencers now making up to $500,000 and surpassing their banker counterparts, it is clear that the nature of Wall Street is changing.
According to Bloomberg, business started picking up at Betterment, a robo advisor with a target audience of new investors, seemingly out of nowhere. Arielle Sobel, Betterment’s director of communications, said, ‘We were, like, where is this increased activity coming from?’
The company experienced a sudden spike in customer inquiries, but Sobel said it wasn’t sponsored by them, so they ‘had no clue’ where it was coming from.
The instant success was due to a 25-year-old TikToker from Tennessee. He was posting short videos on the app, in which he described how to retire as a millionaire.
The young man, Austin Hankwitz, has now been dubbed a ‘finfluencer’ because of the influence he has had over Betterment’s success.
One of Hankwitz’ most popular TikToks, titled ‘How I became a full-time influencer in 12 months’, currently has 6.9 million views and more than 33,000 likes.
Only until last year was Hankwitz working for an old-fashioned finance company, and making TikTok videos about the financial sector was only a small side project.
A year later and he now has nearly half a million followers on TikTok and is using his platform as a commodity to further his career.
The 25-year-old now charges between $4,500 to $8,000 per post on his TikTok page.
‘I was able to quit my job about six months ago to do this full time,’ Hankwitz told Bloomberg, and while the ‘finfluencer’ declined to say what his annual earnings were, he did admit that he makes more than $500,000.
Hankwitz isn’t the only one. Haley Sacks, otherwise known as Mrs Dow Jones on social media, has more than 215,000 followers on Instagram alone, and make complex financial information relatable by comparing it to pop culture and celebrity gossip. ‘If you can understand the human relationship between two celebrities, then you can understand any financial concept,’ Sacks says.
Now, Sacks has signed with a talent agency and has negotiated six-figure deals with brands. ‘She’s a financial pop star. When have you heard that take on anything? The way that she relates everything to pop culture is just so genius,’ Kate Wauck, robo advisor Wealthfront’s chief communications officer said.
‘Quite frankly, [influencers are] just better at telling our story than we are,’ Wauck added.
BY RHIANNON INGLE
17 SEP 2021
